Secrets of Us A Forbidden Love Romance (Alina)

Chapter 47

Engaged

The months have gone by really quick. Aiden has been better since Zaid left, and now he's been back to his normal upbeat self.

He's taken up his game.

Both in basketball and in bed.

My legs are sore as I walk outside. The air is cold, freezing my nose, but I don't complain. It's better than the unbearable heat. Aiden's had an amazing first half of basketball season and next year they're hoping to go to the state tournament.

I wrap my arms around myself to keep in some of the warmth.

Winter break is next week, and all I can think about is Zaid.

It makes me feel guilty. That I'm excited that he'll be in town. I've never had a pleasant experience with him, and I should hate him, but just the thought of maybe seeing him again...

I shudder.

Sometimes I get this gut feeling that he's watching me, but when I turn to face the

corner

of whatever room I'm in, he's never there. Of course he's not.

I hate myself for missing his charms, even though they annoyed me, even though

he tested every inch of my sanity when he was here.

I can't explain the way his face haunts my dreams.

That I sometimes think about him, even when it is Aiden deep inside me.

I shake my head, trying to push the thoughts away. I shouldn't feel this way. I'm with

Aiden.

Zaid is his brother, and whatever chemistry there was between us before he left is nothing.

But I still haven't gotten Aiden to talk about the night Zaid got arrested. Every time

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bring it up, he shuts down, changes the subject, or tells me it doesn't matter anymore.

in my pocket, pulling me from my

over

my way. He never texts me like that and I know immediately that something is off. I

there, Aiden opens the door quickly, as if he's been looking out the window and waiting for me to get home. He doesn't

as

at him, feeling strange. He looks upset, running

Alina," he says,

further inside. "Sorry for

sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. "I didn't know, okay?

into the hallways. Confusion unfurls inside me and I have half a mind to

Didn't know what?"

the living room, his shoulders tense. "My dad... he

Jake is engaged. It's

my

frown, trying to rein in the panic fluttering through

away. Something else is wrong,

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into the living

in the middle of the room, is

to her

second, my breath catching in my throat as I try to make sense of what I'm seeing. My mother... engaged

to her finger, an enormous rock glinting beneath the room light.

smiles at me, the movement not reaches his eyes and he places a hand at

hand at me as if I could have missed that

from across the room.

behind me, his hand at my lower back, as if

mother, the uncomfortable tension filling

clear my throat, trying

terrible smile still on his

so you weren't caught

for that," I

beside me, his face pale, his jaw clenched. He's

his eyes, the way he can't even look at

a step toward me, her hands outstretched. "Alina,

wonderful news?"

"Wonderful news?" I scoff.

Jake flinches.

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at me. "Why are you